As I spend time getting all the crap out of my basement, and painting it in a few shades away from 'piercing white', I'm troubled by a couple of features in my up-coming downstairs Tiki bar.

Firstly, the ceiling is seriously low - anyone over six foot would have to stoop. As a result, I can't hang any of the fun, nautical stuff up unless I strung up a very tight net on the ceiling. There's been many a mention of basement bars, but has anyone had any success dealing with the low-ceiling problem?

Second hassle is the fireplace, which looks ok, but isn't all that Tiki. It could be operational at a stretch, but I'd prefer to put something fun where the fire should be. Any suggestions?

Yes I agree with the covering and postcards. At our old tiki bar we had tons of old Hawaiian postcards pinned up on the ceiling and it looked great. And either a woven matt covering or seagrass matt would be a great background. With the fireplace - it's gotta be stone or lava rock with some tikis worked in. Either that or turn it into a little waterfall, pond thing with some planters and uplights. Show pictures of what you come up with!

I know that this very issue plagues many people. If you were really ready for a challenge, you could cover the ceiling with wood and make it like you were below deck in a ship. That might be tough, or, you might find some very thin paneling that would give you the look.

How about a Japanese Tiki Bar?
To where everyone would have to take off their shoes and that will help eliminate the height problem.
I'm sorry, nothing constructive on this post. Just being a smart ass.
Then again, a Japanese Tiki Bar could be kinda cool.
"I'll take an Unagi roll with my mai tai you Gisha babe you."

A Japanese junk, below decks, without shoes but with knee pads… hmm it makes ya think, don’t it.
Lower the floor man, sure it’s a lot of work but not the end of the world. I guess the big question seems to be , do YOU have to stoop, or only your taller guests?
Maybe you could lower the floor in the center of the room and the bar proper, and leave the edges at the original elevation for booths.
Or you could go for a grotto and give guests cool hardhats with big ol lights on ‘em, cool drippy walls, corny sleastack looking booths, fish behind the bar.
Back to nautical you could do a Jules Vern kinda submarine deal.
Or the inside of the whale that ate Pinocchio… Monstrow?
Or 50’s bomb shelter swank. Complete with ladder entrance option, ( keep the stairs you’ll need ‘em.
Or a bumper car rink with lark scooters.
Or…
Wait, what was this thread about?
I’m gonna go mix another drink.
I bought all this weird ass booze yesterday…

[quote]
On 2004-04-06 19:16, pariartspaul wrote: With the fireplace - it's gotta be stone or lava rock with some tikis worked in.

I'm intreged, I have a drab brick fire place and have been pondering what to do with it and lava would make a dandy replacement, anyone know any sources of lava or stick on lava paneling, I'll I can find in these parts are bags of small black lava rocks suitible for backyards.

I love the waterfall-in-the-fireplace idea. Is it really necessary for people to stand in the bar, though? People couldn't really stand in the Humuhumu Room, because the palm fronds came down to about 5'. They kinda ducked in and sat down, or stood right next to the bar where it was more clear. Of course, bonking into palm fronds is gonna be a lot more comfortable than bonking into glass floats.

Without seeing pictures of your space, it's hard to imagine if this would work, but what about creating a cave-like atmosphere for the room? By applying some roughly textured faux rock, building it more heavily into the corners, you'll create some visual interest without losing too much height. Plus, removing definite boundaries to the room may actually make it feel more comfortable. Don't know exactly what you'd use, papier mache perhaps, or spray foam or insulation that gets painted over, perhaps some well-anchored chicken wire framing in the corners where you couldn't fill it completely with material.
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Thanks for all the suggestions - the ceiling will almost certainly have postcards (now I've got to get some!), tapa cloth (also when I can get hold of some) etc, etc. I'll probably have a few things dangling down in places where people won't be walking round.

Having a basement at all in the UK is pretty rare, and we had to hunt high and low to find an affordable one. As it's difficult to get permission to build houses on 'green field sites' in the UK, land and housing costs are very very high. In London, this basement would be re-named a 'Garden Flat' and cost more than a 4 bedroom house in Florida! Luckily, we're a long way from London.

Anyway, for the most part, I just intend to put shelves all over the place and fill the walls with prints, etc. The fireplace is a focal point, though, and it would be cool to have something impressive like a water feature/volcano inside it.